


Brooms, Takis, and a Bunch of Mumbo Jumbo

by JessJesstheBest



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Alex is the son of the Minister of Magic, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, And general disclaimer that WE DO NOT SUPPORT JK ROWLING'S VIEWS ON THE TRANS COMMUNITES, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Henry is still Prince of England, I was just obsessed with Takis at the time of writing this fic, It's basically if RWRB happened while they were both wizards and in high school, M/M, NO TERF ZONE, Red White and Royal Blue Big Bang, Terfs Do Not Interact
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessJesstheBest/pseuds/JessJesstheBest
Summary: Dear Mr. Diaz,We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted by the Royal Scholarship of Magical Education to study with Prince Henry of Wales for your next academic term.Or Alex is chosen for a Palace Exchange program where gifted students of Hogwarts get to study with Henry at his palace for spring term.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72
Collections: Red White & Royal Blue Big Bang 2020





	Brooms, Takis, and a Bunch of Mumbo Jumbo

Alex slammed down his letter on the breakfast table, making scrambled eggs go flying, and stood on his seat, both arms raised in the air.

“I AM THE GREATEST BOY TO EVER LIVE!” he announced to the entire hall. He pivoted toward the Gryffindor table, to point at one of his fellow 6th years in victory. “Up yours, Hunter!”

Tittering laughter went up, students at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables swiveling between the two boys, before Liam grabbed his arm and yanked him back down.

“Was that quite necessary?” he asked, in the exhausted tone he’d been using on Alex almost since they’d met.

“Maybe not in the grander scheme but, psychologically? Absolutely.”

Liam sighed but there was a tease of a smile on his lips expressing his true fondness for Alex.

Alex grinned. “It’s really happening, though! I actually got it.”

Liam patted him, absently on the back. “Yes, yes, at last. Maybe now I won’t have to hear about it so much next year.”

“I suppose we’ll see!” Alex said, still grinning. “Will you miss me terribly next term? You might have to start actually talking to the other boys in our dormitory now.”

“I think I can probably handle it.” Liam said, rolling his eyes. “I imagine I’ll have enough on my hands with Nora and letters from your sister, assuring them you're managing well where you'll be. I don’t think I’ll be looking to socialize beyond that.”

“Christ, your life is sad.” Alex scrunched his nose in pity before grinning again. He couldn’t stop it for long. “But mine’s not! I’m going to study with the best tutors in England. It’s going to be amazing.”

Liam raised an eyebrow, taking a pointed sip of orange juice at the same time. Alex waited for him to finish, familiar with the theatrics.

“Are you forgetting why the exchange is open in the first place?” Liam asked, eyebrow hitched, slightly. Mockingly. “You will have a whole prince to deal with for the entire term.”

Alex scrunched his nose again, for real this time, as now the sour feeling was directed toward himself. It’s not that he _forgot_ about Prince Henry. Alex didn’t think it was possible _to_ forget about Prince Henry. Every time Alex would receive a rejection – every time he didn’t get into the exchange before now – it felt like he was being rejected by Henry personally. That he wasn’t good enough, he wasn’t smart enough, Henry didn’t want to spend any time with him, whatever. So, no, Alex hadn’t _forgotten_ about him, but this success was Alex’s. It didn’t really have anything to do with Henry.

He quickly waved the feeling away, turning back to Liam with confidence. “I’ll deal with that when I get there. I’m not going to let that spoiled Henry spoil my education. And, besides, I’m going to be the most handsome and charming study mate he’s ever had. He’ll be putty in my hands.”

Liam rolled his eyes. “I’m extremely sure.”

Alex swatted him with the letter, immediately regretting it as he didn’t want to wrinkle it. This was proof he was good enough. That he was equal to the most powerful boy in the country. That he could study with the best.

Yes, he was top of his year, but Hogwarts was a terribly small sample size. He wanted to see how he held up in the real world. Or, if not the real world, at least against that wretched prince.

“Do you want me to write to you?” He asked, serious for the first time. Liam was his best friend, apart from Nora, but he still wasn’t ever sure where they stood with each other. They were together all the time during school, but if Alex spent the next term at Kensington Palace, would Liam even care? Would he be relieved that Alex wasn’t there to annoy him?

Liam rolled his eyes again but his smile was soft and sincere. “Don’t trouble yourself, I don’t need a whole letter. But you could send a note with whatever you send Nora. And I’ll check in on you to make sure you haven’t murdered a royal.”

Alex scoffed but grinned back. “I don’t think he qualifies as a murder. Wouldn’t it be an assassination?”

Liam waved a hand. “Above my pay grade to know. But please don’t do any killing. You can’t write to me from Azkaban.”

Alex grinned wider and leaned in to hug him, nuzzling his head under Liam’s chin.

Liam laughed and pushed him off. “Go tell Nora. She probably already knows, seeing as you’ve made a scene. But I know you want to boast.”

Alex grinned. He clapped Liam on the shoulder and went to tell Nora at once.

  
  


Nora had the usual reaction – patting him on the head wiping butter on his face. He’d thought he’d had a crush on her when they were kids but really he thinks he just liked the physical affection.

He copied out three letters – one to his mother at the Ministry, one to his father, and one to sister, June, who was working for the Daily Prophet. He sent the school owls off with his letters to his mum and June – they were just going to London – but his dad’s letter was going all the way to America so he saved his own owl for that job.

“Okay, Minnie,” he said, reaching up to run a finger over her head. “It’s been a while since I’ve sent you to dad. So you can’t be mad at me.”

She looked over at him in a way to indicate that, yes, she very well could.

He groaned, stroking a finger over her beak. “Yes, you could. But! When you get back, we’ll both be going to the palace. And who _knows_ what kind of high quality lodgings they have for owls.” He gestured at the owlery around him. “No more shit-logged perches for you, sweetie. Won’t that be lovely?”

Minnie made a noise in her throat, deeming Alex’s offer acceptable and stuck out her leg.

He grinned at her, giving her extra love and pats as he tied it on. “You are such a good bird. What a perfect girl you are. I love you so much, my sweet girl.”

She allowed his coddling, nipping him affectionately on the finger, before spreading her wings and taking off.

He watched her for a bit, thinking of the last time he’s visited America to see his dad. It had been a while.

He shook himself out of it and headed back to his dormitory. There were some things he had to put in order.

  


> THE ROYAL SCHOLARSHIP OF MAGICAL EDUCATION
> 
>   
>    
> 
> 
> Dear Mr. Diaz,
> 
> We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted by the Royal Scholarship of Magical Education to study with Prince Henry of Wales for your next academic term. You are required only your wand and any other personal items: all necessary books and equipment will be provided for you.
> 
> Term lasts from January 3 until April 3, exams taking place over the following week. You are to report to King’s Cross Station as you usually would and someone will be by to escort you from there.
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> 
>   
>    
> 
> 
> Shaan Srivastava
> 
> Royal Magical Administrator

  
  


The letter hadn’t mentioned if Alex was supposed to wait on Platform 9 ¾.

It said “report to King’s Cross as you normally would.” and where he would normally report was Platform 9 ¾ to catch the Hogwarts Express. But he wasn’t getting on The Hogwarts Express. Was he still supposed to wait on the platform?

He already felt odd without his trunk. He didn’t need his school books or his scales or his cauldron so he’d taken his clothing and other personal items (including some of his own books because Alex wasn’t an animal) and packed them into muggle luggage. He probably could have taken his other stuff out of his trunk and used that instead, but he would be back in his dormitory in a couple months, anyway. It seemed like such a waste.

So he had a muggle suitcase and Minnie’s cage and his broom. He didn’t know if he’d be able to use his Nimbus but he wasn’t going to leave it behind. He would have felt empty without it.

And it was comforting to hold onto as he waited at the station. He knew he would have to polish the handle later with how he was wringing it in his hands but he looked forward to the comforting chore. Just thinking of the smell of the broom polish was helping to calm him down.

They were on platform 9 ¾ so Alex hoped whatever royal escort was coming for him could find him here. He had his sister and one of his mother’s magical officers with him so it would be difficult to miss them. Especially now that it was after eleven and the train with all of the other students had already left.

“Relax,” June told him, peering around the platform and unsubtly checking her watch. “You are quite literally the only student they’re waiting for. They can’t very well leave without you.”

Alex nodded, snorting in a way that was meant to communicate ‘I know that’ and completely cover the insecurity he was feeling. What if they’d changed their minds? What if they found another student who _wasn’t_ a child of the minister of magic who would be less trouble? What if between receiving his acceptance and now, Alex had already failed somehow?

Cash, the security officer, clapped him on the shoulder in a way that was meant to be reassuring. It only served to remind him, however, that his mother was unable to be with him for this. He understood: she was the Minister of Magic. She hadn’t been able to see him off to school since his very first year. But he still wished she was there at this critical moment.

Especially since June wasn’t helping.

“Merlin, but it is rude, though,” she said, scowling. “These royal numpties think they can just make us wait? We don’t report to their ‘government’ if that’s what you can call it. We have no reason to submit to them and their unmannerly tardiness.”

“Unless we’re on the wrong platform,” Alex confided, betraying just a bit of his nervousness.

“Then they should have been more specific,” June answered before waving away his concern. “Oy, is this him?”

Alex looked over to where she was gesturing and a man in a black suit – not robes, a suit – had just emerged from the walled entrance to the platform.

His eyes caught on them and he immediately headed toward them.

“Alex Diaz?” Alex nodded. “I’m with the Royal Scholarship. Apologies for the confusion, we were waiting for you outside the platform.”

June coughed softly into her fist and Alex shot her a glare. It wasn’t as audacious as a snort – they’d been through too much publicity training for that – but it was still just this side of impudent. 

“That’s fine,” Alex said to the man, forcing a smile. “Are we ready to go, then?”

The man nodded, his eyes moving over Alex’s things before taking the suitcase into his own hands. He gestured at the cage and Alex’s broom. “Is this everything?” Alex nodded and the man nodded back. “Alright then, we’re off.” and he turned to walk back out of the platform.

Alex hesitated. “Do you mind if I just… say goodbye, quickly? It really will be quick, I promise.”

The man turned back and seemed a bit surprised to be asked. “Oh. Yes. Go on, then.”

Alex nodded before turning to June who gave him a crushing hug. “Send me letters,” she told him. “And try not to go insane with only one person to pay attention to you.”

“I don’t need _loads_ of attention,” Alex muttered into her shoulder, but he still clutched her tightly. The winter holidays always went so quickly. It was always so great seeing her and it never got easier to say goodbye.

“Sure,” she answered, pulling away, grinning wickedly. “Tell me everything embarrassing the Prince does,” she pointed at him. “Off the record, of course.”

“Of course,” Alex said, grinning back. “Maybe by the end of this, he’ll be so in love with me, he’ll agree to an exclusive interview.”

June did snort this time, running a hand over Alex’s head to muss his hair. “Brat.”

“Stop it!” he swatted her away but he was grinning. He turned to Cash and reached for a hug. “Thank you for seeing me off.”

Cash clapped him on the back. “‘Course, mate.”

Alex smiled, a little less freely, before taking a deep breath and turning to follow the suited man out of the platform, out of the station, and into a waiting car.

  
  
  


Alex was to stay in Prince Henry’s apartment during his term.

Alex had been fine with this: he was used to sharing a dormitory. Just because he didn’t know Henry very well didn’t mean it would be too bad. Yes, Henry was a physical embodiment of Alex’s personal failures and held a special place in Alex’s nightmares, but Alex could overcome that. He could be noble and share with the Precious Perfect Prince.

What he hadn’t accounted for was the ‘apartment’ being an entire wing of the palace.

It was twenty two rooms shared only with Henry’s sister, Princess Beatrice. Alex could only assume some of the rooms were meant for study but, even splitting the twenty two rooms in half, eleven rooms was a lot for one person.

This meant, of course, that Alex would be sleeping in his own room. With his own bathroom. Which was, objectively, good news, but Alex found he was annoyed by it anyway.

Prince Henry couldn’t even stand to share a sleeping quarters with him. He would never have survived at Hogwarts. He truly was a spoiled thing.

After Alex and the man – Matthew, he’d learned his name was – dropped Alex’s things in a truly absurdly large and beige sleeping quarters, he was escorted back out into a kind of foyer, grand piano in the corner and a lot of couches. Standing at the entrance was a tall, Indian man, hands behind his back in a way that made Alex think of a military man at rest. And he was young. Movie-star handsome in a way Alex was not expecting. He blamed the shock for why his mouth had gone suddenly dry. 

“Mr. Alex Diaz?” The man asked and Alex nodded. “I am Shaan Srivastava, the royal magical administrator. I function as Prince Henry’s handler and headmaster, organizing his schedule and his studies. I will be who you report to in case of troubles. Following?”

Alex nodded again.

Shaan nodded back, offering him a scroll that he’d been keeping behind his back. “Here is your daily schedule for the next few months. Any meal requests will be passed to the kitchens but we staff muggle chefs so you are not to speak to them directly, nor any other palace staff. They've been told you are studying with Prince Henry, as you are, but seeing as the majority are muggle, they are not to learn you are studying magic.”

Alex nodded again fighting not to roll his eyes. This was just common sense. He’d been a wizard for a while now, he knew how the statute of secrecy worked.

Shaan nodded, turning his attention away to a mobile phone. It didn’t look like the one his dad had given him and Alex tried not to stare. Mobile phones were still so foreign to him.

“We’ll convene for dinner in the breakfast room in two hours. Feel free to unpack and get settled.” 

He didn’t wait for Alex to answer before turning and making his way out.

  
  


The breakfast room turned out to really be an every-meal room so the title of ‘breakfast’ was just to piss Alex off.

He’d spent the last two hours treating his new quarters like an escape room: touching everything and seeing what moved. It was as inoffensive as he could expect, decorated in creams and whites and tans. Alex wondered what his first late night snack stain would be.

There was a wardrobe for him to put his things, and Alex had carefully placed his shoes and hung his shirts and folded his pants and that had taken a grand total of twenty minutes. There weren’t any designated shelves for his books so he lined them up in front of the mirror on the vanity. Then he’d kind of liked the way that had looked so he’d taken a picture with the camera phone his dad had given him.

That took an additional twenty minutes.

The rest of the two hours was spent trying to “Escape the Room” but, really, Alex just wanted to see how far he could go before breaking something.

Then it was dinner and Matthew appeared at his door to show him to the Breakfast Room.

“Are you going to be around a lot, then?” Alex asked, more comfortable with Matthew’s presence than with anything else so far. 

“Just this week,” Matthew told him, indulgently. “Just to get you familiar. Then I’ll be back to escort you out at the end of term.”

“That’s bleak,” Alex noted, frowning. “Where do you go the rest of the time?” 

“To deal with the playdates of the other princes,” Matthew said with a smirk.

Alex grinned back and decided he liked Matthew.

They walked into another sitting room that looked a lot like the one he’d met Shaan in two hours ago but this one had a small table in the middle. And sitting at that small table was a blond guy Alex had only ever seen in pictures.

Alex wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Maybe to meet the prince in the entryway while he was wearing his fanciest crown. Maybe for Henry to arrive at their first lesson with a sceptre in hand.

But, no. He was slumped over the table, stabbing absently at some bangers and mash while reading a book propped open on the water pitcher.

Shaan was to the left of his chair, standing in his military rest position, and when Aex walked in, he nudged Henry with his elbow,

Henry looked up, his mouth full, and hurried to swallow, coming to standing next to his plate.

Alex watched him put on the Prince Posture in front of his very eyes. He was dressed in khakis and a deep red sweater which, when he’d been slumped over the table, had looked soft and cozy. But now, as Henry’s shoulders rolled back and his chin came up, his jaw forward, and his arms poised just so, the sweater looked like a calculated maneuver. Burgundy to show expensive regality. The cut of it showing his developed shoulders, even for a boy just shy of eighteen.

He cut the very image of the prince. Alex almost forgot what the other Henry looked like, even not being a full minute since he’d seen it.

Henry leaned forward in a short bow. Alex just stared, unsure if he was supposed to bow back or just receive the bow. He didn’t know how any of this was supposed to work.

Henry didn’t seem surprised by this. The movement seemed perfunctory and rehearsed and Alex was suddenly reminded Henry had made this very introduction at least sixteen times before.

“Hello, Alex,” Henry said, his polished vowels making Alex feel insecure about his own accent despite not having spoken yet. “Welcome to the palace. I look forward to learning with you.”

Alex just gave a nod, feeling wrong-footed and stupid and irritated about it. “Prince Henry.”

Alex was going to leave it at that but movement out of the corner of his eye told him Matthew was fidgeting. If Alex had to guess, he’d say Matthew probably wanted to elbow him like Shaan had Henry,

Alex sighed internally and continued. “Thanks for having me: I’ve wanted to study with the royal magical tutors for years.”

Henry’s mouth twitched. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to have your enthusiasm.” he gestured to the seat across from himself. “Please, come eat.”

Alex nodded again, moving toward the weirdly plush dining chair and taking a seat. He would have expected to have to drape the cloth napkin over his lap and order his forks from biggest to smallest but Henry didn’t seem to be following any kind of eating decorum. His book was still on the water pitcher,

He seemed to have caught Alex looking at it because he hastily closed it, putting it to the side of his half-eaten plate. “I am sorry for having started without you,” Henry started, eyes on his hands as he smoothed over the cover of the book. “I was distracted and forgot my manners.”

Alex nodded in acceptance, picking up his fork but keeping his eyes on Henry. “What book?”

“Hm?” Henry asked, looking up at Alex.

Alex pointed with his fork. “It must be pretty good if it has you so distracted. What are you reading?”

Henry pulled the book off the table and moved it behind his back. “It’s not important. Tell me about yourself.”

Alex started to protest but then decided he didn’t care what the pampered prince was reading. He would much rather talk about himself.

“How much do you already know?” Alex asked, trying to decide if he should start with his exemplary quidditch playing or his perfect O.W.L. results.

“Absolutely nothing,” Henry answered, cutting into his sausage. “After the first couple terms, I found I preferred learning about my study partners only what they wanted me to.” He dragged the sausage through the mashed potatoes and held the fork up to his face. “Having a reference sheet for children who I was supposed to be making friends with… didn’t feel normal. You’re a wizard in my year. That’s all I know.”

He took his bite of food and put his fork back down as he chewed. Alex could only assume these table manners were due to palace breeding. He wondered if that meant he couldn’t talk with his mouth full.

Alex swallowed his own food before speaking, just in case. “Well, okay,” He put his fork down, to curb the impulse to take another bite while he was talking, “My name’s Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz but I just go by Diaz. My mom didn’t want me or my sister to be treated differently at school just because she’s the minister of magic.”

Henry sat up straighter, his eyebrows up. “Your mother is the minister of magic?”

Now Alex’s eyebrows went up. “You don’t know who the minister of magic is?”

Henry grimaced. “I get most of my information about the wizarding world from my classmates. None of them have mentioned it.”

Alex let out a huff that would have been a snort if he’d been confident he wouldn’t be sent to the dungeons for such insubordination. It figured the prince of muggle England wouldn’t concern himself with the ministry. Why would he care about a government he wasn’t in charge of?

“Yeah, well. Ellen Claremont. Minister. She’s in her second term! About halfway through.” Alex picked up his fork again and stabbed at a sausage. “The minister is democratically elected, you see. Every seven years. They’re not just appointed leader for no reason.”

This was clearly a dig at Henry’s own position in a monarchy but either Henry didn’t pick up on that or he decided to overlook it. He just nodded, accepting the information Alex gave him.

“I suppose this makes sense, then,” Henry told him, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. “They probably thought you’d be able to relate to me, both of us being the sons of powerful leaders in our communities.”

It wasn’t Henry’s slip of hostility that triggered Alex’s fury, but his words. How he could so casually undermine everything Alex worked for.

Alex’s fork slipped from his fingers, his hands going numb with rage.

“I didn’t get this scholarship because of my mother,” Alex said, his voice low and dangerous. “I earned this. My marks are impeccable. I’m an exemplary student. I _deserve_ to study under the best tutors in magical England.”

Henry looked startled. “Of course, I didn’t mean–. I apologize, that didn’t come out the way I meant.”

Alex huffed dismissively, turning back to his food.

He understood what Henry had meant. This scholarship had originally been pitched as the Palace Exchange Program: where gifted students of Hogwarts get to study with Henry at the palace for a term in order for Henry to socialize with his peers. There’d been one for his brother Philip and his sister Bea before him: the half-magical children of wizard actor Arthur Fox and muggle Princess Catherine. Of course Henry would think this was all about him.

But Alex hadn’t applied every year since he was eleven to make friends with a self-important princeling. He was here for the best education available to him. The Hogwarts professors were great, but he couldn’t get the individual attention he could get here. And having on his record that he’d been good enough to get accepted to such a prestigious program was essential for his future career at the ministry.

This wasn’t about Henry. Not for Alex.

“I’m in sixth year,” Alex continued telling Henry about himself like the last minute of conversation never happened. “So I would actually be the year below you if you went to Hogwarts.”

Which would make Alex more advanced than Henry, academically. Not that it mattered.

“I’ve been top in my year for the past three, I’m taking N.E.W.T. courses to continue into a career in wizarding law, and I’m a chaser for the Slytherin quidditch team.” Aex grimaced for a moment. “Well, they’ve had to have someone to replace me this term, obviously. But I’m bound to be captain next year, anyway.”

Henry nodded again, also not bringing up the weird moment from earlier. “I’ve heard of quidditch. Never seen it.”

“Best game in the world.”

“Okay.”

There didn’t seem to be anywhere to go from there. They finished their meal in silence.

  
  
  


Alex slept about as well as could be expected. Which was to say: like shit, but he was used to it.

He always took some time adjusting to a new place. He didn’t have the comforting breathing of dorm-mates to lure him into slumber or the option to run down the hall to bother his sister or his mom. The bed was too plush, the walls too white, the insects outside too loud.

He’d get used to it. But that first night wasn’t great.

The next morning, they took breakfast in the breakfast room, which made Alex a little less annoyed that they were using the room for its named purpose but just reminded him that it was used for other meals which annoyed him right back up again.

He made the executive decision not to make small talk with Henry over breakfast. For both of their sakes.

Luckily, there was a full french press of light roast waiting for him. So his suffering was about to be at least somewhat relieved.

Henry watched him pour his cup, gently stirring his own cup of loose leaf tea. Alex shot him a look, daring him to comment on the coffee.

Henry definitely understood the dare. His eyes narrowed and he sat forward, surprising Alex by taking it. “Staff had to double check with me that the coffee was right. You asked for a light roast?”

Alex’s eyes narrowed back. There was an implication there. Maybe that Alex was high maintenance, maybe that he couldn’t handle darker coffee, maybe Henry poking fun that a dark-skinned man only drinks light roast coffee.

No matter what he was being criticized for, though, Alex’s reasoning was the same: “The less you roast the beans, the more caffeine there is.”

Henry hummed, leaning back and taking a bite of his toast. Alex narrowed his eyes further and reached for the jam to spread on his own.

That was it for breakfast conversation.

They had three lessons in the morning and two in the afternoon. Then a break before dinner.

Each lesson started with the tutor introducing themselves to Alex, outlining what they’d be covering in the coming term, and then working with Alex to see where he was starting in each lesson. The charms tutor seemed pleased with his wand work but told him they’d work on his intonation. A subtle dig at his accent but he could live with it. The transfiguration tutor was impressed by his detailwork but told him he could have a subtler approach. That was fine: Alex had been criticized for his brashness before. He was okay at potions but the tutor telling him he should pay more attention to the recipe wasn’t exactly shocking.

Alex expected Henry to drift off or daydream for these lessons since they were primarily about seeing what Alex needed to work on but Henry paid just as strict attention as the tutors did. Maybe more, as Alex could feel Henry’s eyes on him even while he wasn’t casting a spell or preparing ingredients.

Lunch progressed similarly to breakfast only this time Alex spent the meal taking notes about what the teachers had told him. He wanted to take these lessons seriously and take what he learned here back to Hogwarts with him.

Henry spent lunch reading. Whether it was the same book as the one he’d had at dinner the previous evening, Alex didn’t know – Henry faced the book away from him.

After lunch was Defense and Independent Study. Because they had no lessons to independently study, yet, they were dismissed for the day.

Alex went back to his room to write a letter to Nora, complaining a little bit about Henry but mostly bragging about how he had a thinner class load and loads of free time. It made sense that they couldn’t do more specialized studies like Herbology where you’d need greenhouses or astronomy where you’d need stars. Alex would need to catch up on Herbology when he got back to Hogwarts, but he wasn’t very worried about that: he was extremely bright.

He wrote another letter to June complaining about Henry and another one to Liam complaining about Henry, but in a much subtler way. He didn’t want Liam to think he was whiny. And he didn’t want to make it a big deal that he’d written Liam his own letter rather than sending a note with Nora’s so he spent most of his letter talking about the palace and the food and Matthew. He wanted Liam to know Alex missed him but not in a gross cloying way.

In any case, letters didn’t take that long, and Minnie was in his room with him so it wasn’t like he had to go find her in the owlery, which would have at least taken a walk. It wasn’t even what would have been the end of the school day when he was bored again.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to go to the kitchens or interact with the staff… but if he just wanted a snack?

Alex made his way out of his room and into Henry’s apartments, making his way casually down the hall, looking for something that might be the kitchen.

He peered into several rooms that all kind of looked like each other. There was a piano in this one and walled bookshelves in another one but the colors and patterns were all from the same book. One of the rooms was lined with office desks which is where Alex assumed the tutors worked from when they weren’t teaching. He made a mental note of it to return to during independent study.

When Alex did come upon the kitchen, he entered cautiously, ready to sprint away at the first sign of an employee who might rat him out to Shaan.

It looked empty enough to Alex so he came fully inside the room, peering around and hoping to find a cupboard where they might keep some Takis. He’d requested them when he'd requested the coffee but he had no way of knowing if they’d gotten them for him.

He turned, looking for a cabinet, and he jumped when he found Henry sitting at a table in the corner.

Henry didn’t seem to have noticed him, hunched over the table as he had been when Alex had first met him and reading, yet again. This time he was spoon deep in what looked like a bowl of ice cream. There was chocolate sauce on the corner of his mouth.

Alex made the guess that Henry probably wasn’t supposed to be here as much as Alex wasn't supposed to be here – and he _definitely_ wasn’t supposed to be eating ice cream before dinner – so he thought a little heckling was probably okay.

“You know that’ll spoil your supper.”

Now Henry jumped and Alex couldn’t help but smirk.

Henry recovered quickly enough, sitting up straighter, prim and proper. “Should you be down here?”

“Should you?”

Henry scowled.

Alex grinned more fully. “I was just grabbing a snack. Same as you. Only a more reasonable snack: who eats ice cream in the middle of the afternoon?”

“I’m allowed to treat myself now and again.”

Alex actually laughed. “Said the spoiled Prince.”

Henry scowled more severely, averting his eyes back to his book as if to ignore Alex completely.

Taking that to mean Alex was dismissed, he continued with his search, more brazen about it now he knew he had the prince as leverage. He opened cabinets until he arrived at rows of shiny bags in purples and reds. “Toma! Come to Papa.”

Alex grabbed a bag of Fuego and held them up in victory toward Henry.

Henry wasn’t even looking at him.

Alex frowned then scoffed at himself for frowning. So the perfect prince hadn’t been looking at him. What did he care?

The prince still had chocolate at the corner of his mouth.

Alex turned on his heel and left the kitchen, consigning himself to eating this entire bag of Takis in his room. He hoped they stained his bedsheets.

Lessons picked up pretty quickly the next day. 

Now that all the tutors knew where Alex was with his subjects, they dove in straight away, catering to his strengths and challenging him on his weaknesses and correcting the minutest of details. Alex could _feel_ how fast he was learning.

He was wavering on whether or not this much individual attention was a good thing.

It was two weeks before he realized he’s been at the palace for a half a month already. He’d been sending his sister and friends letters, of course, but he only sent his mother a letter once a week. Did he send her one last week? He couldn’t remember.

He texted his dad every day. This was the first time he’d lived in a non-magical area for long enough to justify having a mobile and he didn’t take it for granted for a second. He sent his dad pictures of everything: his rooms, his meals, himself. He called him and laughed with him. He was closer to his dad now than he ever was.

It made him feel extremely guilty about neglecting his mum.

He asked one of his professors if there was a floo he could use to call his mother.

She frowned. She was the acting potions professor, so Alex really had no reason to ask her over the other tutors. She was just There.

“I believe the only fireplace connected to the floo is in the teachers’ study.”

Alex put on his best puppy dog eyes. “Would you mind if I used it? I haven’t talked to my mother in ages. She’s always extremely busy and I don’t want to bother her.”

“You’re supposed to be in Independent Study–”

“I can ask my mother some questions about the ministry to make it legitimate,” Alex cut in, his smile just a touch conniving. “I am taking N.E.W.T. courses to work in politics and she _is_ the Minister of Magic.”

The tutor paled just a little.

It was unfair. He didn’t like doing it. But…. he liked getting what he wanted. 

She took him to the teachers’ study, Henry watching them leave with a bit of consternation. That seemed to be his favored expression when watching Alex.

The study was the same sitting room with all the desks Alex had seen before but this time it was occupied by their other tutors.

“Mr. Diaz is going to be using the floo, briefly. I think we should take a quick snack break in the kitchens.”

They all eyed her weirdly but her expression was a little panicked and a little excited and Alex _knew_ she was going to gossip with them as soon as they were out of sight. It appeared that none of the tutors had known that his mother was the minister of magic. They would now.

Alex may have made a mistake.

Everyone started filing out and she turned to him, gesturing to the fireplace. “Floo powder is on the mantle. You can just go back to the classroom when you’re done.”

Alex nodded, wincing. Yeah, he fucked up. The things he does because he loves his mum….

She was in her office, as usual, so Alex was met with a collect call voice.

“You’ve reached the minister of magic. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Her favorite child.”

His mother’s face appeared before him, turning in her massive desk chair so she could see him fully.

“Alex? What are you doing?”

Alex grinned, his knees aching but loving hearing his mother’s voice.

“I haven’t spoken to you in a while. I wanted to say ‘lo.”

Her eyebrow creased. “Baby, I’ve gone longer without speaking to you at Hogwarts? Is it weird there? Have you been anxious? Frightened?”

Alex groaned. “No, mum. It’s all very normal. Can’t I just want to speak to you because I love you?”

Alex’s mother crossed her arms.

Alex grimaced. “Dad gave me a muggle phone so I’ve been talking to him loads. I felt unbalanced.”

Ellen sighed but laughed, softly. “Sweetheart, you don’t need to worry about hurting my feelings. I know you love us both the same.”

“Yeah. But you still love me more than June, right?”

Ellen gave a long suffering sigh and didn’t answer.

Alex enjoyed talking to her a lot. He did ask her some ministry questions and his mother told him to mind his damn business which was the answer he expected. It’s not like he felt discouraged from asking: he absolutely still would. 

“You are getting along with the prince boy, aren’t you?” Ellen asked, expectantly, “That is the whole point of this.”

Alex screwed his face up. “I thought the whole point of this was my education.”

Ellen groaned. “Alex, you need friends.”

“What about Liam?”

“You need _more_ friends. You need a friend who’s not a Slytherin, your sister, or your Nora. You need to make new and different friends.”

Alex grimaced.

“Promise me you’ll try.”

Alex thought about arguing and was opening his mouth to do so but, looking at his mother’s face, faltered. She was tired. She was the minister so she was always tired but she was tired in the way Alex had been seeing since his father had left. Since he’d first left for Hogwarts. Since June had graduated and started living as an adult. It’s that special motherly tired of ‘You are my child and I’m worried about you.’

Alex sighed. “Fine, I’ll try.”

  
  


The next time Alex went to the kitchens to get Takis, Henry was there again, spoon deep in another bowl of ice cream and reading a book.

He thought about what his mother had said and, if Alex was honest with himself, he’d been getting antsy being my himself so often. He wasn’t really meant to be alone so much.

And Henry was right here…. so convenient for annoying…

Instead of taking the Takis to his room, Alex plopped down at the table across from Henry, the squeak of the chip bag opening a nice punctuation on his interruption.

Henry’s eyes snapped up, clearly annoyed. Alex was good at what he did.

“Okay, really, what are you reading? I always see you with a book. Is that the same one? Are you a terribly slow reader?”

Henry’s eyes narrowed “What?”

“Your book! I haven’t seen you without one. Is it different? It must be pretty good.”

Henry’s scowl deepened, but his cheeks flushed red. “It’s a series.”

“Okay. What series?”

Henry breathed out through his nose, his face going redder. “It’s...” his voice sounded strange. “Muggle. It’s a muggle series.”

Alex just popped a Taki in his mouth and hitched an eyebrow, waiting.

Henry sighed and picked up the book so Alex could see the cover.

One glance at the robots and cheesy illustration and Alex was grinning. He swallowed. “Star Wars?”

“It’s a cultural phenomenon for muggles,” Henry started, defensively. “A space opera! The use of practical effects in the original trilogy shows the ingenuity of muggle artists–”

“Mate,” Alex interrupted, laughing. “I know Star Wars. I’ve seen a lot of films.”

Henry perked up, surprised. “Yeah?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. My dad works with muggles in America. He even took me and my sister to Universal Studios once.”

Henry’s eyes lit up for just a second before he calmed his expression again. His eyes darting around the room as if to verify they were alone. He leaned conspiratorially across the table. “Are you a half-blood, then? I’ve never met another half-blood.”

“No, I’m pure blood,” Alex said, his eyebrows narrowed. “You’ve never met a half blood?”

Henry’s face fell, averting his eyes. “Oh, well, you know,” Henry’s eyes darted around, looking at everything but Alex. “It’s complicated. I mean, I know my siblings, obviously. But–” Henry sighed. “Never mind.”

Alex’s eyebrows lowered and he lowered his eyes with them. There was a story there Alex didn’t know. That he may never know – he didn’t expect he and Henry to actually become _friends_ in all this. But the brief crack in the unbothered Prince face – the flash of pain – it cracked something in Alex. 

“Wizarding America is different,” Alex said, rubbing flavor dust between his fingers.” It’s not like here where we’re all relatively on top of each other and there are entire towns just for wizards. There’s no Diagon Alley in America: all the wizarding places are hiding in with the muggle stuff, and unless you know someone who knows about it, it’s a lot harder to find. My dad coming in and trying to be an American wizard from Mexico was hard for him on both sides. Now he works for the MACUSA in international relations but his day job is in the muggle world, working in their government. He had to fight like hell to get where he is.”

Henry nodded, his focus back on Alex. “Is that how your parents met? International relations?”

Alex nodded. “In the ministry, they call it the Department of International Magical Cooperation because they’re all bleeding pretentious but it’s the same end. Mum was department head and met dad over some issue on whiskey exports or something and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Alex shoved three Takis in his mouth at once to distract himself from that train of thought going any further. The chile lime overtook his senses, making his tongue tingle and sending a rush of endorphins to his brain. The crunch was loud enough to drown out thoughts of the divorce.

Henry didn’t ask about the divorce, though he must have known there’d been once since his mother is in London and his dad is still in America. Instead, he was focused on the purple foil bag in Alex’s hand. “That smells very spicy.”

Alex hummed, letting himself swallow before speaking. He knew his tongue was probably bright red but if that was against special palace manners, it’s not like there was anything he could do about it. “They are. A little taste of Mexico.”

Henry nodded, his eyebrows furrowed. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times and Alex laughed.

“With all due respect, your highness, I don’t think your lily white royal English arse could survive one of these.” He popped another one in his mouth and bit into it with a satisfyingly loud crunch. There truly was no sound like a Taki.

Henry blinked, his eyes wide with surprise, but the corner of his mouth twitched into half a smile. “That wasn’t entirely as respectful as you probably meant.”

Alex shrugged, swallowing. “I’m just trying to protect you. Isn’t adding any spices to your meals kind of like treason?”

Henry’s smile widened even while his eyes narrowed in challenge. “Let me have one.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow, smirking. “Is that a royal decree? I should remind you that you’re not the prince of me.”

“It’s a royal request,” Henry said, holding his hand out. “Unless you’re afraid I’ll call your bluff.”

Alex’s answering grin was feral as he selected a particularly coated chip and placed it in Henry’s open palm.

Henry popped the chip directly into his mouth without blinking, making direct eye contact with Alex as he chewed.

He hummed, nodding smugly as he swallowed. “I can really taste the lime.”

“Mhmm,” Alex answered, equally as smug.

Henry was confused by Alex’s smugness for less than a second before the heat caught up with him and his mouth dropped open in pain and horror. “Oh, God.”

“Mhmm,” Alex said again, eating another two Takis and watching the Prince.

Henry’s face had gone bright red, his fair skin lighting up from the heat and making his blond hair look particularly bright against it. Sweat popped up along his hairline.

“Oh, _God_ ,” Henry said again, fanning his mouth and reaching for some water.

“Water won’t help,” Alex told him calmly around another two Takis. Henry was too distracted to notice his unmannerly chewing in any case. “Try your ice cream,” he suggested instead.

Henry did, grabbing frantically for his spoon, and shoveling the now mostly melted ice cream into his face.

It was that image: a nation’s prince shoveling sticky cream into his bright red mouth, that finally got Alex to laugh. The complete lack of dignity of milky ice cream dripping down the prince’s chin for the first time made Alex feel like the next few months with this boy might not be so bad.

Dinner that evening was loads less awkward than the previous one. Henry shared what was currently happening in his Star Wars novella and Alex’s familiarity and interest in Star Wars made the prince way more open and personable. Alex still made fun of him but it wasn’t out of resentment anymore. It was affectionate roasting.

Alex almost wished he hadn’t already sent off his letters that week. Almost. He could tell June, Nora, and Liam that Henry wasn’t so bad after they wrote back.

  
  


  


Classes didn’t slow down but it was different now that he and Henry were… friendly. Friends? Not glaring at each other at any rate. 

All the learning, though, meant there wasn’t nearly as much time for bonding and goofing around in class as Alex was used to at Hogwarts. These tutors _really_ paid attention to you. But Alex got to know Henry more in the in-between moments. 

They did their independent study together, ignoring the ‘independent’ part of it. He spent time with Henry’s dog, David: an absolutely beautiful Beagle who was every inch more regal than Henry. Henry took Alex on a tour of the grounds. Henry shared with Alex the best times to sneak to the kitchens for illicit snacking.

Henry loved his sister with his whole heart. Henry hated cabbage. Henry had always thought that if his life had been different and he’s been allowed to go to Hogwarts, he’d have liked to have been a Hufflepuff.

“Phillip always said Gryffindor was the best, of course,” Henry mentioned over lunch halfway through February. “I don’t know how he could possibly know that as he has as much experience with the houses as I do. I think it’s something about wizarding tradition or something he read somewhere.” Henry shrugged. “My dad was in Hufflepuff, though. He always said the most wonderful things about the common room and the kitchens nearby. And how it was the house of charisma so everyone was extremely kind and likeable. Gryffindors get all the glory, sure,” Henry shrugged. “But I think I’d rather be thought kind than brave.”

“I think you’re brave,” Alex told him in a weak moment of sincerity.

Henry actually laughed. “Yeah? How’s that?”

Alex scowled, feeling tricked into saying nice things about Henry, even though he’d done it to himself.

“You’re one of the most powerful boys in the world,” Alex said, his voice a growl in what was mostly forced resentment by now. “You have this entire legacy to keep up and you live every day with one of the biggest secrets a person can have: that you’re magic.” Alex’s voice had gone soft with wonder without his permission. “You can _do magic_. And you go out and do royal muggle things and risk everyone finding out. That’s brave.”

Henry was blushing but his face was twisted in a soft way that he thought Alex was being nice. But he didn’t believe him.

Alex didn’t like not being believed. Not when giving sincere compliments was so rare for him.

“It’s more than that, though,” he continued, getting fired up. “You’re forced to meet a new student every term. You have to reach out to them, accept them, try and befriend them. I’m a people person, and even _I_ feel exhausted just _thinking_ about that. That’s a lot to risk so many times. A lot of…. emotions or whatever.” Alex frowned, coming to the end of his emotional literacy. “Do you get what I mean? You have to be brave to do that.”

Henry nodded but he still looked sad. “Thank you, Alex. Truly. But it’s not like any of that is my choice. I have to go out into the muggle world. I have to meet these new students.”

“But you’re kind,” Alex told him. “After all you’ve been through – after everything you’re _still_ going through – you choose to be kind. And kindness is its own kind of bravery.”

Henry ducked his head, his blush reaching the tips of his ears and all the way down his neck now.

“I wasn’t kind to you at first,” he mumbled to his plate. “I wasn’t warm or welcoming. I was so tired of these forced friendships. I didn’t think you’d be any different.”

“Lucky for you, I am,” Alex said, winking at him, prompting a quick laugh. “And I wasn’t exactly friendly to you either. You’re kind now, even after I was so rude to you. It takes courage to be so resiliently cordial.”

Henry kept looking down, his blush not quite receded. But he had a small smile as he reached for his finger sandwich. He looked like he might finally believe Alex, at least.

“Not like it matters, either way,” Alex said, forcing his tone to be casual and _desperate_ to bring things back to normal. “Hufflepuff? Gryffindor? Who cares: neither are Slytherin which is obviously the best house. Only Slytherin I’ve met so far in this castle is David,” he paused, glancing toward a corner couch. “Maybe Shaan. I don’t know. He’s good looking so I get distracted when I talk to him.”

Henry choked on his tongue and then started laughing. Alex let out a deep breath and let the conversation carry them away again.

  
  
  
  


His friend’s letters had gone through stages. June’s had started pretty sincerely:

_I am sorry you and Henry aren’t hitting it off. I understand why he may not have been polite to you as you are rather annoying, but it is still unfortunate that you’ll be spending so much time with someone when there’s animosity between you._

But lately she’d been wanting to hear less about Henry’s dorky moments and more about what he thought about official magical requirements.

Nora had started reassuringly:

_Oh, boo hoo, someone doesn’t like Alex. The world is truly coming to an end. I wouldn’t worry about it, mate, you have this tendency to grow on people. Like a fungus. He’ll like you well enough eventually. Whether that will make him less of a git is another story but one problem at a time._

But now she mostly asked Alex how he was doing with the course load and if he thought she should pull a wide-scale prank on the Gryffindors.

Liam hadn’t bothered to respond at all until Alex’s latest, for which he sent back only this:

_Sounds like the prince needs to loosen up. You should snog him._

Liam’s letter made Alex choke on his pudding, causing Minnie to flap at him indignantly. Henry looked up at the ruckus. “You alright?”

Alex nodded hurriedly, grabbing for his glass of water and hoping to clear his airways.

It was _not_ fair of Liam to bring up snogging boys. Not after they’d promised never to talk about it again.

Liam was probably joking – it was exactly the kind of dry punchline Alex could expect from him. But would Liam joke about this? After what happened with them? After they’d done that?

It didn’t matter: Alex wasn’t thinking about it. He didn’t think about Henry that way anyway. No, Henry was just fun to mess around with. He was fun to tease and laugh at and laugh with and talk to and faff about with share with and _fuck_.

But no, they were friends. They were _friends_. Alex didn’t even like boys. What happened with Liam just happened because they were adolescent boys figuring things out. Nothing to concern himself with: his mother had told him it was extremely natural.

It was natural to notice Henry was handsome because he was a prince, wasn’t he? Princes had the glow of royalty to make them handsome. It wasn’t his shining hair or his serious eyes or his stern mouth, only growing bigger and friendlier with a smile. It wasn’t his broad shoulders or trim waist. That was prince paint-by-numbers, it had nothing to do with _Henry_.

Alex hadn’t realized he’d been staring at Henry for quite a bit until Henry looked up and gave him a stupid look – a kind of ‘what are you looking at, weirdo?’ look – before his mouth twitched into a smile.

 _Fuck_.

It was fine. They were friends. It was fine.

  
  
  
  


“You’ve never watched these movies _with_ anyone before?!” Alex asked, horrified.

Henry shook his head. “Not unless you count Shaan.”

“I do not,” Alex said, peering over the couch to the corner of the room. “No offense, Shaan!”

“None taken, Alex.”

Alex grinned and turned back to Henry. “Why not, though?”

Henry squirmed in his seat. “Well, I’ve watched them with Bea. Phillip never had much patience for them but Bea will watch them with me sometimes.” He looked down at his hands, twisting in his lap. “My dad first showed me Star Wars.”

Alex looked away, feeling stupid. He shouldn’t have brought it up. Of course actor Arthur Fox would show his kids Star Wars. He was a wizard: Star Wars must have seemed like the most incredible muggle invention he’d ever seen.

Henry didn’t seem upset about it, though. Alex looked back up to see a soft and sad smile on his mouth. 

“We don’t have to–” Alex started but Henry cut him off.

“I’d like to,” he said. “Bea never really liked them as much as me, she just watched them because she knew I loved them. I tried with my best mate, Pez: he was the first one to study with me. I’ve wanted to share them with my other classmates but…” Henry swallowed looking down again before shaking his head and looking back at Alex. “I didn’t want them to hate Star Wars. I know it’s silly, but it felt like they were judging me. Judging him.”

“It’s not silly,” Alex told him, his voice soft, before clearing his throat. “And we’re in no danger that I will not love these movies as much as you because I have already seen them! And a bigger Star Wars fan you could not find”

“I don’t know about that,” Henry said, his smile going a bit wider. “You can’t even admit ‘Return of the Jedi’ is the best of the original trilogy.”

“Because you’re _wrong_ and I will go through the reasons you’re wrong when we watch it.”

Alex collapsed further into the couch to punctuate his sentence, grabbing a bag of Takis and opening it with a squeak. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Henry laughed under his breath, his head tilted to Alex so he could see Henry’s eye roll, but he reached over Alex for the remote.

They had three movies and roughly six hours of Skywalker action to bring in their weekend. This wasn’t Alex’s first time marathoning the movies but it would be his first time with Henry, so it was going to be special.

Alex held his breath as Henry’s elbow brushed his stomach and he let out when Henry was seated safely at his side.

“Henry?” Alex started.

Henry hesitated, his thumb on the play button. They were both in their pajamas, Henry in a soft looking t-shirt and extremely soft looking pajama pants. The pants had tiny millennium falcons printed on them.

“Happy birthday,” Alex told him.

Because for Henry’s eighteenth birthday, he decided to spend it in his pajamas in his apartment watching Star Wars with Alex.

Henry grinned and Alex breathed it in.

He wouldn’t take this for granted,

  
  


Alex’s birthday was two weeks later and all he wanted was to work on patronuses.

“You have the entire royal estate of England at your disposal for your birthday and you want your gift to be _schoolwork_?!” Henry asked, incredulously.

Alex scowled. Liam, Nora, and June had said the same thing, but this was important: Patronuses weren’t part of the regular curriculum and he never had this much individual study time with the professors at Hogwarts. This was a huge opportunity. It was the whole reason he was there. He wasn’t going to let Henry distract him.

He pretended he didn’t know Henry had asked the kitchens to prepare him a tres leches cake, anyway. It wouldn’t be as good as his Dad’s but Alex’s heart did stupid things every time he thought about Henry doing that for him, regardless.

“It’s my birthday and you’re not the prince of me,” Alex reminded him. “Now let’s get going, I want to see what animal I get.”

“You don’t _get_ an animal, Mr. Diaz,” their defense teacher told him, calmly. “If you can manage a corporeal patronus, the creature that will manifest will only be a representation of your happiest energies.”

“Right,” Alex rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m curious to see what my happiest memories manifest as, then.” Henry coughed in a way that told Alex he was clearly covering a laugh and Alex winked at him. “Can we get started?”

The professor sighed but began a very boring lecture about the theory of patronuses which both Alex and Henry already knew.

Blah blah happiest memories blah blah dementors blah blah spiritual protectors.

Alex bit his tongue to keep himself from asking to get a move on _again_. It had taken some convincing to allow him to study patronuses in his sixth year to begin with, he didn’t want anyone changing their minds.

Finally, _finally_ , the professor told them to take out their wands.

“The movement is quite simple: just a circular motion, counter clockwise. And the incantation is ‘expecto patronum’. Why don’t you both try it once now.”

Alex nodded, determined to impress.

He already knew what you needed to put _behind_ the patronus so if he could make something happen when they were just supposed to be trying the incantation, he was sure the professor would be extremely dazzled.

He focused on a happy memory. He’d been thinking about it for years, knowing he’d need a very good one when it was time for him to learn the patronus. His mother winning re-election was pretty up there. As was the first time he’d scored the winning goal in a quidditch match, securing the cup for Slytherin.

In the second between their professor asking them to try the incantation and Alex doing it, though, another memory popped in. Just two weeks ago, watching Star Wars with Henry.

_“Expecto Patronum.”_

Alex’s wand lit up with wisps of white vapor and he stared at it, shocked.

The professor immediately started praising Alex, telling him that he’d known Alex was advanced but this was extremely promising.

Alex put on his best politician’s son's smile and accepted the praise as humbly as he could. Internally he was freaking out a bit. He’d done what he’d intended – he’s impressed – but absolutely not in the way he’d expected to.

Henry? A memory with Henry is happy enough to produce a patronus? Even a tiny glimmer of one?

He had planned to turn to Henry with a gloating and superior look. Now he turned to Henry in bewilderment.

Henry looked back at him with pride.

What the fuck was he supposed to do with _that_?!

“Prince Henry, you didn’t produce any mist, but that’s fine, it was just a preliminary test,” the professor reassured him. “What you’re meant to do is focus on happy memories and let them draw out of you, through your wand, and into a real life protector.”

Henry nodded, determined, and moved to try again.

 _“Expecto Patronum._ ”

Again, nothing happened.

Henry nodded once looking disappointed, but not surprised.

The professor wore the same expression. “Well, that’s fine, your highness. This is very difficult magic.” He then turned to glare at Alex, remnants of his praise from two minutes ago completely gone. The professor’s eyes reprimanded Alex like his minor success was making Henry feel bad. Which, who’s to say? Maybe it was.

He leaned toward Henry and spoke directly into his ear

“Use the force, H.”

A tiny laugh punched out of Henry and he shoved Alex’s shoulder away from him, grinning.

Alex grinned back, letting the weirdness about his patronus sink to the back of his head.

The professor corrected Henry’s wand grip and pushed Alex’s feet further apart and made them do dictations of the simple spell for a solid ten minutes before he would let them try again.

“You don’t have to use the same memory for your patronus every time,” he explained. “Don’t worry about picking a perfect memory. You can fine tune and refine which memory to use over time. For now, we just want to _do_ something. What is making you happy right now?”

Alex very much hoped this question was rhetorical. His darker complexion hid his blush but that wouldn’t mean shit if he had to say his happiest memory _out loud_.

Henry had a very pale complexion. He was flushed as pink as an English peach. 

They both tried a few more times. The moment when Alex had made the Slytherin quidditch team made some more weak silver mist. The first time he’d visited his father in America, more of the same. Thinking of when he’d kissed Liam made him too embarrassed to produce anything.

Maybe when he’d found out he was the top of his class. When he got his Outstanding O.W.L. marks. Being accepted into the prince program at last...

Alex cleared his throat and thought of what had worked the first time. If the professor was right and using a memory now didn’t mean he had to use it _forever,_ then he could keep using what worked and it wouldn’t be weird, right? Right. So he would think of Henry.

Alex thought about Henry first introducing him to David, his grin spread wide and his hands so practiced in their affection, rubbing the beagle exactly where he liked it best. He thought about potions and the concentrated look Henry got on his face when he was shredding shrivel figs, his focus absolute and hopelessly endearing.

He conjured up the picture of Henry when he’d eaten his first and only Taki, face bright red, eyes streaming in pain, melted ice cream dripping from his mouth.

Alex’s incantation came out on a laugh “ _Expecto Patronum!”_

And from Alex’s wand came a four legged furry something. The long hair swung and swayed as the animal loped around, the tongue hanging out of its mouth in a grin.

“Is that a dog?” Henry asked, a laugh in his own voice.

“An Australian Shepard, I think,” Alex answered, reaching out to it in wonder.

The patronus stepped forward rubbing its face against Alex’s hand. It felt like warmth and light and the barest pressure but not like the head of any actual shaggy dog.

It disappeared from under Alex’s hand, his concentration shot. It had only been there for maybe 15 seconds but Alex was shocked it had been there at all.

The professor had forgotten already his early admonishment and was praising Alex again.

“Absolutely remarkable! Such proficiency is really something in someone so young. Why, you’re a natural! I will certainly be in contact with your professors at Hogwarts, this is an incredible feat.”

Henry nudged him with his elbow. “Well done, mate.”

Alex blushed. “Thanks.” He elbowed him back. “Now it’s your turn, though. Can’t have me embarrassing England’s most special prince, can we? I’ll be kicked out of the country.”

Henry rolled his eyes but he was grinning. “You won’t. But I’ll do my best.”

He took a deep breath, adjusting his grip on his wand and shifting his feet on the ground. There was that furrow between his eyebrow, his face set in extreme seriousness.

Alex laughed again, watching him and Henry was already halfway through saying the spell but he looked over at Alex at the sound of his laugh. Alex was grinning and Henry smiled and suddenly there was white vapor coming out of his wand.

Henry almost dropped it in surprise.

“Excellent! Truly excellent, highness. Not what we didn’t expect this from you but a wizard at such an age–”

Henry clearly wasn’t listening. He was staring at his wand like he’d never seen it before. And Alex was staring at Henry.

  
  


The Tres Leches cake was delicious. Sweet in the way it melted on his tongue and warmed his stomach and creased the corners of his mouth. Or that may have been Henry. Or maybe both.

Alex did not have space in his brain to think about Henry that way. Or any way. He made his way through the final week of classes thinking of nothing but magic, magical theory, and the practical applications of magic. This was it – it was all he had. That week and then exams and then it was back to Hogwarts. He’d had a goal here. A mission. His education was _so_ important.

So whatever his stupid heart said – that he had no time to waste while he was with Henry – was wrong. The priorities were wrong. Everything about it was wrong. Alex had things to accomplish. Magic to learn. Henry was never a part of that.

His parents understood! His dad hadn’t gotten upset when Alex had fallen off of texting after the first couple of weeks. He knew Alex had other things to focus on. His mother had her own life so she was happy with any odd letter Alex sent. June kept telling Alex to get her that interview with Henry. Nora told him she would smoke his marks at the end of the year. Liam told him to stop being a bitch.

Liam was not the most understanding but Alex could kick his arse when he got back to Hogwarts.

And there were things to look forward to when he got back to Hogwarts! This much individualized attention was good but it also meant that Alex’s every yawn was scrutinized. Going back to being at least semi-anonymous was going to be a relief. He missed his friends, he missed the house elves’ food, he missed _quidditch._ This was an excellent experience but he was ready to go back.

He didn’t think about the things he would miss here. Unlimited access to Takis. His freedom. Wearing normal clothes. Henry. Henry. David the Beagle. Henry.

They’d write, it would be fine.

Back to the lesson.

Henry’s foot brushed against Alex’s ankle as he shifted in the chair next to him.

 _Back to the lesson_.

It was during their final independent study. They didn’t have homework, they didn’t have anything to do but actually study for their exams. And Alex intended to do exactly that.

Henry smacked him on the shoulder with a broom.

“Ow!” Alex said, trying to scowl but smiling instead. “Where did you even get that?”

Henry snorted, but he had a smile of his own. “You don’t think I own a broom?”

“Where would you fly it?”

Henry’s smile twisted into something devilish. “That’s what I’m about to show you. Go get your Nimbus.”

Alex wasn’t sure when Henry had noticed he had a Nimbus but he didn’t pause to think about it, instead leaping from his desk chair and bolting toward his room.

He had things to do. He had plans to study. Flying with the prince was not why he’d come here.

He didn’t care. Now that it was presented to him, he felt like if he didn’t get in the air in the next thirty minutes his lungs might literally explode.

He came back into the study, breathing hard, his broom gripped hard in his fist. He knew his hair was messed up and his grin was manic but he didn’t care. He was going _flying_.

Henry matched him, his eyes alight with mischief and challenge. He smacked his chest with his hand and laughed “Are you ready?”

“Lead the way, highness of getting his arse outflown.”

Henry laughed again, smacking Alex’s chest this time, as he made his way past him out into the hallway, picking up into a slight jog as he made his way down the hallway.

Alex followed after him, swearing mildly and yelling at Henry for having longer legs than him which only made Henry laugh again.

Alex should probably stop doing that. Henry’s laugh was disastrous for his priorities.

They made it to an interior courtyard, the walls of Kensingon surrounding the little outside paddock, but the paddock was several times larger than should have been possible. The walls went higher than there were stories in the estate and the grounds had stretched to the length of the Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch.

“Whoa,” Alex said, unable to tone down his wonder.

“Undetectable extension charm,” Henry told him, as if Alex couldn’t guess that himself. He would have said so if he hadn’t been goggling at the state of the art training obstacles hovering sporadically over the paddock. “Shaan does it for me. We shrink it down for the day to day but I get to have my fun so long as no one needs this courtyard for anything.”

“Wicked,” Alex breathed. “What’s all this then?” he asked, gesturing at the floating hoops and moving targets.

“Just a bit of challenge.” Henry shrugged. “It’s usually just me out here and you can really only fly in circles for so long. The obstacles are there here so I don’t go crashing through an upper window out of boredom.”

Alex laughed and Henry smiled at him.

Alex looked back over the paddock and sighed. “Shame you can’t get Phillip or Bea to play a little one to one quidditch with you. Or I bet Shaan can play. Shaan?” Alex looked over at the man who only shrugged, a slight smile on his face. Alex sighed again.

“I told you, Alex, I don’t know how to play quidditch. And, actually…” Henry looked away from Alex’s face, taking a deep breath. “I was hoping you could teach me.”

Alex’s brain short circuited. “You want me… to teach you… to play quidditch?”

Henry nodded, his chin jutting out, like he was refusing to be embarrassed.

Alex heard his broom clatter to the ground as he reached for Henry’s face to give him an enormous kiss on the mouth.

Before Henry could react, Alex was pulling away, breathing hard.

“I would love nothing more than to teach you how to play quidditch, your highness.”

Henry’s face was blotchy with color and his eyes were wide with an emotion Alex couldn’t define. “Okay.”

Alex laughed, summoning his broom to his hand with a bit of wandless magic he’d mastered in his third year before climbing on and shooting into the air.

This was not strictly necessary to teach Henry quidditch – and actually a detrimental strategy seeing as they had none of the right equipment or hoops yet – but Alex had just kissed Henry and needed to fly a few laps to vent his feelings.

He hadn’t meant to do it. He hadn’t thought about it. He just looked at this boy who he’d been looking at for weeks and the boy had just asked him to share something Alex loves and Alex had just… kissed him.

It could be excused. Alex could tell Henry it had been a kiss of celebration and excitement. That wasn’t really a thing in England but Alex was also part Mexican. Henry would probably buy that. 

Or Alex could tell him he kissed all his friends. Which, now that Alex thought about it, was technically true.

Or maybe Alex wouldn’t have to say anything. At least not yet. Henry didn’t look like the type to bring it up anyway.

But why _had_ Alex done it? What did it mean? That deserved a think.

A think for later, though. First: quidditch.

Alex came back to the ground to find Henry sitting in the grass with his head in his hands.

“Y’alright?” Alex asked, knowing they should probably talk about that kiss.

But Henry came through for him, nodding and saying “M’alright.”

Alex knew he probably wasn’t all right but he was grateful for the lie anyway.

“Perfect! Because we’ve got quidditch to learn.”

Alex turned to Shaan who was presenting a standard box of quidditch balls and smiled at him.

“Thank you, Shaan. I can take it from here.”

Alex opened the case and started explaining to Henry what each ball did. Who the players were that dealt with each ball and, most importantly, stories of Alex’s prowess on the quidditch field where each ball or player was involved.

Shaan transfigured the garden while Alex did this, turning it into a proper quidditch pitch, with the hoops and the lines and the safety precautions. Alex was grateful for the deceleration charm acting as a barrier on the perimeter: he did _not_ want to know what it would feel like to collide with any of the brick walls at full speed.

Shaan finished the transformation before Alex finished his story about the time he lept off his broom to avoid a bludger, grabbed onto the opposing team’s beater, and still scored the point for Slytherin so there was absolutely no hesitating to get into the air.

“All you need to know for one-to-one,” Alex started, raising his voice a bit so he could be heard over the wind. “Is how to score points with the quaffle. We can’t very well let the bludgers free when there’s no beaters to keep them off. And who needs to catch a snitch when scoring goals is more fun? So–” he cast a quick summoning spell on the quaffle on the ground and it came flying into his hands. “Summoning spells are not legal in the game for obvious reasons,” he explained as an aside. “But just make sure you get this ball,” Alex held up the ball. “Into that hoop,” he gestured to the set of hoops behind himself. “Before I get too many into yours. Ready? Go!” And Alex took off like a shot to the other side of the pitch, Henry letting free some very un-royal swears behind him.

Alex made the goal, obviously, but he turned to find Henry basically on top of him. Seemed Henry was a better flyer than Alex had guessed. This game would be interesting.

And it was. Henry couldn’t aim for shit but he was a better flyer than Alex. He learned fairly quickly that playing defense and keep away would make it much more difficult for Alex to win. And every once in a while, he’d push them far enough to Alex’s side of the field that he’d make a goal almost on accident.

It was the weirdest and most fun game of Chaser’s quidditch Alex had ever played.

With no snitch to announce the end of the match, they ended up playing until it got dark, having missed dinner and homework time, and Alex’s evening call to his Dad.

But Alex didn’t even care. He felt more confident in his studies, more confident in quidditch. He felt happier about his whole life.

They landed their brooms at the garden’s entrance, breathing hard and grinning madly. Henry had gotten the last goal: an absolutely beautiful pass that sailed right over Alex and through the left hoop. He was still flush with victory and pride.

They hadn’t been keeping score (Alex had: he’d definitely gotten more goals) so the real marker of the evening was how much better Henry had gotten. How many aerial blunders were made. How much closer Alex felt to Henry.

It was closer than he could remember feeling to anyone else in his life.

Alex took a step toward Henry, his hand raised to put on Henry’s shoulder or waist or gently cup his face. Alex wasn’t sure yet what he was going for but it didn’t matter because Henry winced, subtly, and stepped away. Alex let his hand drop.

Henry cleared his throat, his smile flagging but with a valiant effort to keep it up. “We should probably get to bed. Big day of studying tomorrow.”

Alex nodded, dully. “Yeah. Course.”

  
  
  


Exams happened. One on one evaluations with the professors and at the end they mark how well you retained the lessons or how much progress you’ve made in your magical study.

Alex gets all outstandings, of course. He’d kept up with the coursework, completed all assignments, and cast a corporeal fucking patronas. He was well on track to return to Hogwarts and he’d been promised letters of recommendation from everyone, Shaan included, should he need them.

Alex was thrilled. Obscurely.

He’d accomplished what he’d meant to, he could go back to Hogwarts with the full knowledge (and bragging rights) that he’d shown up the magical prince in his own house in every way. And he’d even managed to ruin three sets of bed sheets with taki dust, so take that bourgeois.

But it didn’t hit like he thought it would.

Henry did well on exams, himself, naturally. He had a quiet affinity for charms and spent his independent study developing a new spell. _Schonio_. It’s meant to act as a leash for your dog. It’s really quite clever, as the only rope or tethering spells are meant to constrict and not really lead, and if David is to be believed, it works quite well.

Alex watched him cast it for the professor, David being as good a boy as he ever was and being the perfect model for the new spell. Henry had performed with such confidence, such surety. It made Alex think about kissing him again.

But they were well out of time, now.

Unlike at Hogwarts, Henry didn’t actually need to finish out the year after he sat for his NEWTs. It wouldn’t make sense to bring someone out for the Palace Exchange for an entire term when Henry was only going to be studying for two weeks before taking his qualifying exams which meant Alex was to be Henry’s last ever Hogwarts study mate. Alex found it appropriate that they’d saved the best for last: any study partner Henry would have had after him would just immediately disappoint.

This also meant that as Alex left – Matthew returning as promised to escort Alex back to the castle – Alex had to say goodbye knowing he would be leaving Henry alone. 

Henry would move on from magic after this, just like his siblings had. Alex was sure of it. He’d get his qualifications and then live in the muggle world as a prince, his magic just a parlor trick to break out on special occasions. He wouldn’t need any magical friends after this.

And maybe Alex was being dramatic but what excuse would he have after this to see Henry? There was no guarantee Henry would even _want_ to see Alex after this. It really felt like Alex was losing a friend.

They were in the entrance hall at Kensington and, unlike last time Alex and Matthew were here together, the Prince was there to see them, even if it was just to make their goodbyes.

Henry stood with the same stiffness he had that first night at dinner. He wore a thin collared shirt instead of a sweater and his eyes were more fond than they’d been at the start but there was that same formality and decorum when he said, “Alex, thank you for your companionship in education. You were an excellent study mate and I feel we’ve both learned so much.”

He extended his hand as if to shake Alex’s but Alex just pulled him straight into a hug.

Henry was taller than Alex so Alex had to lift his heels just a bit off the ground to fully bury his face in Henry’s neck like he wanted, but he managed. And Henry, after only a moment of stiffness, his formality breaking down, crouched enough for Alex to hug him more comfortably. Alex could feel the broad expanse of Henry’s hands clutching at his sides with a kind of desperate warmth and he sank into it.

“I hope you’re not too princely for a pen pal,” Alex told him, his voice slightly muffled by the collar of Henry’s shirt. “Because I’m going to be writing you loads of letters and it would just be awkward for both of us if you didn’t reply.”

Alex could feel the vibration of Henry’s laugh in his own chest and it made his heart go very weird. ‘Can’t have you feeling awkward, now, can we?”

“It would be highly indecorous,” Alex agreed, grinning, his mouth pressed into Henry’s shoulder. Henry laughed again.

He pressed a kiss into the space where Henry’s shoulder met his neck and Henry stiffened once more, pulling away.

He clearly tried to smooth over the moment, grinning an empty press grin and clapping Alex on the shoulder in a manly way.

“Good luck with your summer term,” Henry told him, a heavy hand still on Alex’s shoulder. “I just know you’ll do brilliantly.”

“Well, that’s obvious,” Alex answered, reflexively.

Henry snorted, coming back a bit to normal unprincely Henry before clapping Alex on the shoulder again and stepping back. “Have a safe trip.”

Alex nodded, feeling somewhat wrongfooted, before turning to Matthew, grabbing Minnie’s cage, and making his way down the palace steps.

  
  


Matthew side-along apparated Alex and all of his stuff into the city of Hogsmeade. Alex had missed most of the apparition lessons that would prepare him to get his license but he hadn’t been totally bothered by that. He was a fast study and, anyway, he could apply for his license whenever he wanted. His mother was the bleeding minister for magic, after all.

This did mark the first time he was apparating, though. He had felt rather put out when Shaan’s letter said he would be driven from the train station to Kensington at the start of all this but, now he’d experienced it, he understood why they tried to avoid it if they could. 

Matthew grinned at him, finding Alex’s shell-shock expression quite funny, Alex could imagine, but he did take both Alex’s suitcase and Millie’s cage when they walked up to the castle, leaving Alex hands free.

There was absolutely no time at all between Alex arriving at the castle and being thrown back into the thick of it. His belongings disappeared, probably back to his dormitory bty elf magic, and Matthew disappeared, probably back to the estate by royal decree or some such. Alex did get to shake his hand goodbye. He rather liked Matthew.

He arrived in the middle of lunch but it was the weekend before term had even started so the great hall was pretty empty. Nora was there, though. Talking to a black seventh year boy Alex was pretty sure was named Pez.

Nora saw him approach and scrambled off the bench, rushing him in a hug. “There he is! Our returning champion!” She pulled back from the hug and punched him on the shoulder. “Welcome back, mate!”

Alex laughed, rubbing the spot where she’d punched him. “Thanks, Nora. Have ‘Ve you seen Liam?”

Nora nodded, vaguely. “Yeah, around. Expect he’s in your common room.” She reached for Alex’s arm and dragged him to the Ravenclaw table, sitting him down between her and Pez. “But you can worry about him later. Eat something and tell me everything.”

Alex snorted, reaching obediently for a sandwich. “I’ve written you letters already telling you everything. What else is there?”

“Tell us how it was saying goodbye to Henry.”

Alex turned to Pez, surprised. He hadn’t exactly forgotten Pez was there but he hadn’t been expecting him to pile on to Nora’s interrogation.

“Sorry?” He asked, going for politely perplexed.

Pez grinned, sticking out his hand. “Percy Okonjo. Everyone calls me–”

“Pez,” Alex interrupted, reaching for his hand with his own. “Yeah, I know.”

Pez’s grin widened as he shook Alex’s hand. “Good! Then you know I was the first student to do the exchange my first year.” Pez said, eyes twinkling. “I spent a term with Henry before I’d even been sorted.”

Alex blinked, startled. “Is that right?”

“Yep! I don’t think I helped him much, being eleven and excited about going to Hogwarts. I basically spent the entire time talking about a place he’d never see.” Pez shrugged. “He must have liked me anyway, though, since we still write to each other and I see him most holidays.”

Alex smiled. So Henry did have a friend.

And, hey, maybe this meant Alex would actually see him again. This was a precedent for it at least.

“Pez has been hanging round, gossiping about you lot with me,” Nora tells him. “He reckons you’re the first study mate Henry’s actually liked since him.”

Alex’s face got hot. “What? No, that can’t be true.”

Pez shrugged again, his grin a little devilish. “All I know is what he’s written me. And he didn’t talk about any of the others like how he talked about you.”

Alex shoved an entire quarter of a sandwich in his mouth to save himself from speaking. He didn’t know what he would have said.

Pez leaned toward him, nudging Alex’s shoulder with his own. “No need to be embarrassed, mate. Henry’s a good bloke. But that’s why I want to hear about the goodbye: how do _you_ feel about _him_?”

Alex swallowed, looking at Nora for help. Nora’s face mirrored Pez’s almost perfectly. There’s no way Nora was as invested in Henry as Pez was but she lived for chaos.

Alex sighed, turning back to Pez. “Henry’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Saying goodbye to him was hard.”

“That,” Pez started his smile softening and clapping a hand on Alex’s shoulder much like Henry had hours before. “Is the correct answer.”

He looked deep into Alex’s face, eyes moving and tracing all over before pulling back with a massive grin and declaring, “You and I are friends now.”

Alex’s face spread into his own grin. Yes, he believed they were. And he’d been so adamant at the beginning of all this that he wouldn’t be making any more friends.

  
  


The summer term started as if Alex had never been away.

Well, mostly.

Alex didn’t have quidditch practice because Slytherin had been knocked out of the tournament last month (which they clearly would not have had Alex been playing) and he now had a friend in Pez, but otherwise things were normal.

His professors looked at his marks from the palace tutors and shoved him right back into normal instruction. The house elves had unpacked all of his things for him so his dormitory was the same as ever. His classmates had never interacted with him before the exchange and they definitely weren’t now. Alex figured he was just too intimidating. Hunter from Gryffindor didn’t act like he was better than Alex anymore, though, so that was a plus.

Liam welcomed him back without fanfare, treating him as if he’d been there the whole time. He still smirked knowingly at Alex when Alex was writing a letter to Henry but that wasn’t very different from how Liam usually looked at him.

And that was the other thing that was different: Henry’s letters. Alex hadn’t been joking when he said he would write Henry loads of letters, but he hadn’t imagined Henry’s response. Alex wrote pages and Henry wrote pages back. Henry sent Alex _Star Wars_ books and Takis and pictures of David. Minnie had never been so busy.

They made jokes and made plans and Alex could never quite control his face when he received a letter. It was all becoming actually quite embarrassing. Not that it was enough to make him stop writing.

The letters and gifts didn’t go unnoticed by Nora and Pez and Liam. Even Alex’s dad wrote him letters asking about Henry. June must have ratted Alex out.

So Alex had a very fine and normal term. Nothing too extraordinary.

Liam just looked at Alex unimpressed every time Alex insisted nothing was different.

“Mate. You love him.”

What did Liam know anyway?

  
  


The week of final exams approached the same as exams had in the spring: without Alex having paid much attention.

He studied, wishing Henry was there to study with him, and he took the exams, wishing Henry was there to decompress with him when he’d finished, and he waited on his results, already knowing he’d finished top of the class but unable to feel anything much about it.

He’d already achieved the ultimate academic achievement with the internship. There wasn’t much else there for him until he set out to work for the ministry.

There wasn’t much for Alex to think about besides Henry.

Pez whapped him on the head about it when they were lounging by the lake one afternoon.

“Ow!” Alex said, rubbing his ear where he’d been thumped. “Why?”

“Your pathetic pining has me about at my limit, love,” Pez told him pleasantly. “Have you considered being less pathetic?”

Alex pouted. “I’m not pining.”

“You very well are,” Liam told him, not even opening his eyes. He and Nora were sunning themselves. Alex and Pez weren’t bothering since they already had melanin. “I’ve heard you sigh plaintively in your _sleep_ mate. Can’t get pininger than that.”

“That’s not a word, but he’s not wrong,” Nora added. She and Liam high fived without looking.

Alex grunted. not willing to deny having done something in his sleep lest he perjure himself. 

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t just see him while he was here for NEWTs.” Pez asked, absently sticking flowers in his hair. “You might not be so pathetic if you’d gotten some snogging in.”

Alex couldn’t even begin to object to the snogging comment because “Henry was here?”

Pez looked at him like he was stupid. “Yea, mate. For his exams. You think they could just order all the Examiners to the palace?”

“I did think that, yeah.” Alex answered, dazed. “But Henry was here?”

Pez was looking more confused now seeming to realize, “He didn’t tell you?”

Alex shook his head, numbly.

Henry had been here. In the same castle as Alex. But he hadn’t told him. Why? Because he didn’t want to see Alex? Did he not like Alex anymore? Then why was he still writing to him?

Liam sighed. “He’s protecting himself, you idiot.”

Alex whipped his head around to look at him. “How do you mean?”

Liam cracked one eye open, looking irritated. His default expression was ‘Everyone is an idiot except for me,’ but there was a special look especially for Alex and that was this. “He’s in love with you, too, obviously. But he figured it’s impossible so he’s keeping his distance so it doesn’t hurt too much.”

Alex gawped at him, “Why would you think that?”

Liam shrugged. “That’s what I did. In the summer between our fourth and fifth year, remember?”

Alex remembered that summer. Liam had cancelled plans with him: the first plans they’d ever made outside of school. He hadn’t known it was more than cancelled plans, though.

“What?”

Liam groaned, sitting up fully to face Alex. “I _fancied_ you,” Liam said, mouth screwed up in distaste. “But you were _straight_ so I tried to keep some distance from you so as not to get my hopes up. But then, well, we both learned you _weren’t_ straight and I got over whatever deluded feelings I had so now we’re fine and normal but _Henry_ probably still thinks you’re impossible for whatever reason so he’s keeping his space.”

“Hang on,” Nora said, also sitting up now. “When did we learn Alex wasn’t straight?”

Liam shrugged, reclining back into the sun. “He and I snogged a bit last year. It wasn’t mind blowing but it did clarify some things.”

“How dare you.” Alex said but he wasn’t sure if he was commenting on Liam discussing the kissing event they agreed to never discuss it or Liam’s implication that kissing Alex was less than mind-blowing. 

Pez nodded, thoughtfully, completely ignoring Alex. “That does sound like Henry.”

“Well that’s stupid,” Alex muttered but as his anger built so did his volume. “That’s so stupid! He can’t just _decide_ what’s impossible without talking to me!”

“Atta boy!” Nora said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Tell him!”

“I _will_ tell him!” Alex scrambled to stand up. “I’m going. Right now.”

“Wait, what?” Nora asked, surprised.

“Yeah!” Alex said, stooping to pick up his bag. “Exams are over. I’m of age. What’s to stop me from marching into Hogsmeade and apparating to Kensington?”

“You don’t have a license?” Pez pointed out.

Nora gasped. “Ooh! June is in Hogsmeade right now! Yeah, she’s doing an interview at the Three Broomsticks.”

Alex didn’t wait to hear anything else. He nodded once in their direction, turned toward Hogsmeade, and took off at a run.

  
  


It really should have been more difficult to convince his sister to apparate him to London.

“It’s just so romantic!” She told him. “And, anyway, this means I get exclusive rights to publish your story, right?”

Alex snorted. “Yeah, sure, whatever, Please don’t splinch me.”

June had never been to the Kensington estate the way Alex had so she couldn’t pop into Henry’s rooms the way Alex might have. The only thing she could visualize was the front lawn of the palace. They couldn’t very well _magically appear_ on the public front lawn of the muggle royal family so instead June apparated them into the bushes.

The first thing Alex was met with was several branches and thorns in his hair and hitting his face. The second thing was magical royal security apprehending them for unauthorized apparition on royal property.

“It’s okay!” Alex told them, hands up, wand in his pocket. “I’m Alex Diaz! I’m a friend of Henry’s!”

“His Royal Highness Prince Henry,” a guard corrected and Alex swore internally at himself. Fucking snobby titles. “Didn’t authorize any magical visitors.”

“It was a surprise visit.” Alex muttered, before perking up. “But I can get it authorized! Get Shaan out here, Shaan will legitimize me!”

There were four guards total. Two had popped in directly in front of June and Alex and the other two had turned away from them and started casting spells. Alex assumed it was to magically disguise the altercation in case any muggles were around to witness it.

As luck would have it, when the other two guards joined them, Alex recognized one of them.

“Matthew!”

“Alex?” Matthew looked confused. “Why are you in the bushes?”

“I don’t have my apparition license so my sister had to bring me!”

Matthew just blinked at him like he hadn’t really answered the question but shook his head. “Does the prince know you’re here?”

Alex smiled, sheepishly. “Not yet. Could you tell him? And could you tell your mates to let us into the palace while you’re at it?”

Matthew sighed. “I can’t let you into the residence without confirmation from the family. But we can let you out of the bushes, at least.”

Alex grinned. “Matthew you’re the best!”

Matthew waved him off. “Yeah yeah.”

The other guards disappeared now that they knew Alex and June weren’t a threat and let Matthew escort them to the front steps, alone.

“Matthew, this is my sister, June,” Alex made introductions as they walked. “June this is Matthew. You both might remember each other from the train station that first day.”

“Oh, I remember,” June said and she winked at Matthew.

Alex rolled his eyes. “One thing at a time, yeah?”

June snickered. Matthew didn’t respond aside from the tips of his ears turning red.

When they were safely installed in front of the house, Matthew held his face to a plastic looking box at his shoulder that Alex knew to be a muggle radio. “Meerkat to Zazu, you there?”

Alex brightened. “Zazu?”

Matthew shot him a look that had Alex shutting up even while he was delighted. He turned to share this with June who’s also been to Disney World with him but she was too fascinated by the radio.

There was a crackle and Shaan’s voice came through. “Zazu here, is there an update?”

“Yeah, the disturbance was just our young friend Mr. Diaz looking for the Prince. Should I send him up?”

There was a pause. Alex fought the urge to shuffle on his feet. 

June leaned over to him. “Why do they have separate talking devices? Couldn’t they just use a mobile to do this?”

“I don’t know,” Alex told her. “You can talk to Matthew about it while I go upstairs.”

June shrugged. “S’pose it’s as good an ice breaker as anything else.”

Alex sighed. There was a high chance his favorite palace guard and his sister were going to make out. 

But that was a problem for later.

The radio crackled again and Shaan said. “Let him up.”

Alex grinned, almost skipping past Matthew. He knew where Henry’s rooms were, he could leave Matthew to escort June by themselves.

He arrived at the apartment far ahead of the others and shuffled past Shaan with a grin. “Hey pal! My sister’s outside. You should give her the royal rundown while I talk to Henry. Right?”

Shaan gave him an unimpressed look and then looked past him to the Prince. Alex wasn’t looking at what clue Henry gave but Shaan just nodded, moving out into the hallway and closing the door.

Alex turned to Henry, finally, and let himself die a little bit for just a second as he took him in.

Henry looked as handsome as ever but seeing him for the first time after months apart was doing funny things to Alex’s chest. Henry’s hair was just a little longer, whisps of fringe falling into his eyes. It was well and truly summer now so gone was the formal button up. He was in a soft looking t-shirt, the faded logo for one of his dad’s movies printed on the front. He wore loose drawstring shorts and his feet were bare. It couldn’t be more obvious he hadn’t been dressing for company. It was the least royal Alex had ever seen him.

Alex was positive he’d never seen anything more beautiful.

While Alex had been looking at Henry, Henry had been looking at him. Alex was definitely aware he’d never changed out of his Hogwarts robes. He was disheveled, as he’d been at the lake– his Slytherin tie askew, his robes falling off his shoulders – but this would be the first time Henry had seen him in his house colors. The thought sent a thrill through Alex’s spine.

Even after they’d looked their fill, the two of them stood there, silently. Neither of them breaking the quiet tension between them.

Until, unbidden, Alex broke it. “Why didn’t you tell me you were at Hogwarts?”

Henry flinched. Well, that wasn’t a great reaction, but they had to start somewhere.

“You’ve been writing to me,” Alex continued, “We’ve been making plans to see each other. But then we had the chance to actually see each other and you didn’t say anything. Why?”

Henry said nothing.

Alex kept going. “You were never actually going to commit to seeing me, were you? You were just fucking about.”

“No,” Henry said finally, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat. “No, I wasn’t fucking about. I–” his breath hitched and he averted his eyes. “I hoped to see you.”

“You could have,” Alex reminded him.

“I know.” Henry looked up, taking a deep breath. “I just… I didn’t think I was strong enough.” Henry took another deep breath, squaring his shoulders. “I didn’t think I could see you without blurting it out, telling you–”

“I love you.”

Henry’s breath hitched again, staring at Alex like he dare not hope.

“I love you,” Alex said again. “I think you avoided me because you’re scared, and that’s fine. But I’m not. So I love you. And whatever else that means we can work it out.”

Henry continued to look at him. Alex stood there, chin high, hoping he didn’t just fuck everything up.

He watched Henry take a step toward him. Then another one. And then suddenly he moved so fast he was in front of Alex, taking Alex’s face in his hands and kissing him.

Alex had kissed before. He’d kissed girls. He’d kissed Liam. He’d even kissed Henry.

This was different.

Henry wasn’t holding back anymore. Alex could feel Henry’s passion, Henry’s yearning, Henry’s _everything_ in his lips, his chest, his knees, his fingernails. Henry was everywhere. Alex could feel him everywhere. 

Alex’s hands were on Henry’s waist, pushing the hem of the t-shirt aside to feel his skin. Henry’s fingers were tangled in Alex’s hair, scratching at his scalp, and making Alex gasp.

Henry pulled away, just barely, keeping their foreheads pressed together. “Say it again.”

Alex huffed a laugh, ghosting another kiss over Henry’s mouth. “You haven’t even said it once.”

Henry brushed their lips together again, asking “please” into Alex’s mouth.

Alex pulled him closer still, turning Henry’s head so he could speak softly into Henry’s ear. “I love you.”

Henry’s breathing stuttered and he said “I love you, too.”

Alex buried his grin into Henry’s neck and just held him, his hands coming fully around to clutch at his back. Henry’s arms came around to hook over Alex’s neck, his face and hands both pressed into Alex’s hair. 

They stood like that, just holding and being held, as the sun made the shadows move through the windows.

Alex told Henry about his flight from Hogwarts, about June in Hogsmeade and Matthew in the bushes.

Henry told him about his NEWTs and what he hoped to do with his qualifications now he’s got them. He wanted to look into being in muggle relations for the ministry. He talked about how magic made him feel connected to his dad and how he wanted to use his high muggle connections as a prince to create more understanding for wizards about muggle issues.

“I’d only ever met pure bloods,” Henry sighed. “I think it was Gran’s way of showing me I had nothing in common with wizards. That me and my siblings were accidents and you could either be magic or muggle but not both. But you showed me I can be both. And I want to show everyone else.”

“So you’re sticking with magic?” Alex asked in a hopeful whisper. “Won’t the muggles notice?”

Henry chuckled, the breath of it ruffling Alex’s hair. “I’m the second son. Not the heir but the spare and all that. No one pays attention to me.”

Alex choked a laugh. “I don’t think you’re being totally honest but far be it from me to talk you out of staying with me.”

Henry pulled away, just enough that he could look at Alex’s face. His hand stroked over his neck, and he smiled at Alex so gently. “I have been trying so hard to be brave. Brave like you told me I was. Brave like how I always wanted to be. I have been thinking about this from the moment you left. Before then, probably: from the moment you kissed me in the garden.” He kissed Alex then, softly, but pulling away quickly. “I have been wracking my brains as to how to make this work and,” He took a deep breath, smiling a little wetly, but smiling so Alex wanted to smile back. “Alex, I think we can. I think we can make it work.” He chuckled again, butting his head against Alex’s. “I was going to send someone to pick you up from King’s Cross at the end of term before you bloody stormed the castle.”

“You didn’t say anything!” Alex said, laughing back, and leaning his head with Henry’s. “I don’t think I’ll ever get better at guessing what you’re thinking.”

Henry moved his hands to cup Alex’s face again, his grin so bright it blinded. “I think we’ve got plenty of time to find out.”

  
  
  


Alex couldn’t stay, for obvious reasons.

All of his things were at Hogwarts, there was still the leaving feast and – now that Alex knew Henry loved him and wanted to be with him – Alex didn’t really want to get in trouble. He still had a whole year left at Hogwarts after all.

Before he left, though, he and Henry had discussed some things. Alex had another year of school and Henry had a whole year to figure out what he would do with his life. His Gran wanted him to join the Royal Navy, like every muggle relative in the bloodline, but Henry was going to work on convincing her to let him be a royal ambassador. They could come up with a cover story to the public. Henry had said his sister Bea was willing to help with that. Alex suspected he was really going to like Bea.

Alex had floo-called his mum. She was excited to meet Henry and was even more delighted to hear that Henry came with more friends for Alex. She was a simple woman with simple desires and Alex loved her for it.

It wasn’t an issue for the Minister which was a relief to Henry because apparently the muggle world wasn’t as hip to two men in a relationship. Alex had no idea why that would be but he trusted Henry to handle it, or to ask for Alex’s help. It wouldn’t be an issue, probably.

Alex was to spend the summer holiday back at Kensington with Henry. Henry had public relations events for the summer and he’d invited Alex along. It would be good to see how the people react to Henry’s new friend, son of an American politician. It might soften the lead for them to reveal their romantic relationship somewhere down the line. Alex could only hope.

He was thinking about Spain, the first stop on Henry’s summer event plan, when he was thumped on the head. This time by Liam.

“Fuck!” He shouted but in a whisper because he did manage to remember at the last minute that they were at the feast. “What?”

“Hunter’s been glaring at you for five minutes.” Liam told him, mildly, just a hint of a smirk on his face.

“Oh, is he paying attention to me again?” Alex asked, turning a bit to smirk at Hunter “That’s nice.”

“It’s nice to have a rival,” Liam agreed. Alex hummed in response.

“I can write to you this summer,” Alex told Liam. “Now that we’ve got that awkward unrequited crush nonsense out of the way we can be friends again. Right?”

Liam rolled his eyes. “Yes, we can be friends. We were always friends.” He nudged Alex with his shoulder. “And anyway: you owe me. I’m the one who called out about Henry to start with, remember?”

Alex rolled his eyes and nudged him back. “I don’t owe you shit.” They both laughed. “I will invite you to Kensington, though. On Henry’s behalf. I’m sure he’d like to meet you.”

Liam hummed. “Maybe. Maybe he can introduce me to my own prince to fall in love with.”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, but, running off with a prince charming? How cliche is that?”

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my Red White and Royal Blue Big Bang! The first ever! How fun is that?
> 
> It's a Hogwarts au, I didn't exactly reinvent the wheel, but I do want to mention that I started this fic before J.K. Rowling went full mask-off with the transphobia and I do not support the toxic environment that she's creating. Trans people are valid and I want to support you however I can. TERFS do not interact, seriously.
> 
> Title contains a Star Wars reference. Want to make that clear because some readers of RWRB still don't know that "Never tell me the odds." is a Han Solo quote so, yeah, "A bunch of mumbo jumbo" is how Han Solo refers to the Force. So. It's a Star Wars reference.
> 
> My beta was [owlawyerofthebooks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazingPenicls) and I thank them for their patience as the pandemic had me Fucked Up and I ended up finishing this fic way later than I intended. Thanks for sticking with me, friend!
> 
> And my artist was [nerdzewordart](https://nerdzewordart.tumblr.com/), an amazing bean, and I mean come on just look at it. Incredible. You love to see it.
> 
> I also did art myself for another fic in the bang! [_We’ll Change the World Yet to Our Dessire [sic]_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26803873) Go read it, it's so sweet!
> 
> If you're new here, I am [saywhatjessie](saywhatjessie.tumblr.com) on tumblr and you can reblog this fic [here](https://saywhatjessie.tumblr.com/post/630877001571532800/dear-mr-diaz-we-are-pleased-to-inform-you-that).


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